Live@ICFF, Editor’s Pick: Hero Design Lab

Among the usual more established attendees at ICFF, there are always a few refreshing and hopeful first-timers. This year Jenny Lemieux and Leo Corrales, of the Canadian-based Hero Design Lab, stood out for their resource-saving outdoor collection. Called Hero 365, the line consists of a clothes-drying rack and a rainwater collector made from powder-coated, recyclable metal with a cheery ’50s pattern. Lemieux and Corrales set out to refine two everyday objects that were badly in need of a designer’s touch. “The rain collectors you see are all those plastic, orange things that look horrible in a home environment,” Lemieux says. “And I’ve always had to buy a million drying racks because they fall apart. So we wanted to make something that would basically last forever.”

Her sturdy drying rack features swing-out bars as well as a pull-up drying table for those items that need to lie flat. (The designers are still working out some kinks but hope to have it production within the next couple of months.) The rainwater collector ($275) holds 45 gallons of water in a collapsible plastic bladder and has a place at the bottom for hanging your watering can. Harvested rain can then be used for washing your car or tending your garden—without drawing on your local water supply. Both pieces will arrive flat-packed from Canada.